Mon 8/23-Sat 8/28
If there’s a blank wall in Cleveland, there’ll probably be a mural on it soon!
No sooner did Cleveland-born, L.A. based artist WRDSMTH (Philip Brody) sweep through town, spending a week painting 18 murals, than Cleveland Walls! arrives in midtown after a year’s delay due to the pandemic.
Cleveland Walls! is a project of an organization called POW! WOW! Worldwide, which sponsors “mural festivals” around the world. It’s done 17 so far with Cleveland Walls! being the first in the Midwest. Twenty local and national artists will be swooping in to transform walling in Midtown and nearby neighborhoods, setting down stakes at a Visitor Headquarters at 7113 Euclid Avenue. Visitors can meet artists from out of town, as well as learn more about local talents such as Jordan Wong, Darius Steward, April Bleakney, Robin Robinson and Antwoine Washington.
The event not only gives locals a chance to watch the art as its being created, it also features free family activities, including community artmaking, performances and artist talks by locals such as Distinguished Gentlemen of Spoken Word, Twelve Literary Arts, Shooting w/o Bullets from Monday August 23 through Saturday August 28. There’s even a community film festival with the premiere of a documentary on graffiti art in the Warner & Swasey Building.
It culminates with an all-day block party on Saturday August 28 taking place at various locations around midtown including the Children’s Museum, the Rainey Institute and AsiaTown Plaza.
For more information and a full schedule, go to midtowncleveland.org/clevelandwalls.